If slugs are dining on your hostas, fight back with these easy-to-execute strategies.
If you’ve lately been lamenting, “What’s eating my hostas?”
on repeat, the answer is probably slugs.
Slug damage looks like uneven holes in hosta leaves, chewed through veins and all.Credit: Scott Little
Slugs will munch anywhere on the leaves, right through the veins.
Deer and rabbits will eathostas, too, but they don’t leave holes behind.
Instead, you’ll likely see bare stems with maybe a ragged piece of leaf left behind.
Credit: Scott Little
Rake away any dead leaves near your hostas and add somerough mulch, like bark, around your plants.
Slugs don’t like the sensation of the tiny, sharp crystals in this nontoxic powder.
Ground-up eggshells can have the same effect.
If you only have a small area to protect, try circling it with copper tape at ground level.
The slime on the slug’s foot chemically reacts with copper, giving the pest an electrical shock.
If you aren’t too squeamish, hunt for slugs at night when they are most active.
Poison Slugs with Iron Oxide
Finally, there’s the poison route.
Scatter a slug bait with iron oxide, like Sluggo, around each hosta.
Check back every two weeks or after big rains, and replace the bait if it’s gone.
It may take several of thesetactics to stop slugsfrom chewing holes in hosta leaves.
